Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Saturday, March 30
Charlotte, N.C.
2 PM
Middle Tennessee
20-15, 0
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5
Charlotte
10-21, 0
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11
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Middle Tennessee
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16
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Charlotte
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Raiders Split Doubleheader with Charlotte
3/30/2019 9:59:00 PM | Softball
Charlotte, N.C.- The Middle Tennessee softball team split a doubleheader with C-USA opponent Charlotte today at Sue M. Daughtridge Stadium. The Raiders (20-16 C-USA 5-3) took game one in 11 innings, but could not win the second, being overpowered by the Charlotte (11-21 C-USA 3-8) offence.
The Raiders we're led by the relief effort from pitcher Kaily Ahlstrom. The Freshmen pitched 6.2 innings, struck out a career high seven batters, and recorded her sixth win of the season.
"I came in and I knew I had to shut down their batters," said Ahlstrom "I think I had a lot of pitches working, and had some fire on some of them, that really helped."
Ahlstrom is coming off a seven inning victory against Tennessee State where she struck out six, allowed two runs, on six hits. Against the Tigers on Wednesday, Ahlstrom threw a whopping 132 pitches. On three days rest Ahlstrom would enter the game and hold the 49er offense at bay, till the Raiders could out last Charlotte in the eleventh inning.
"I thought Ahlstrom came in and pitched well, and she pitched longer than what we anticipated," said Head Coach Jeff Breeden.
The Raiders had clutch performances from Jocelynn De La Cruz and Lexi Cushing who had back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to put the Raiders ahead 4-3. Charlotte would tie the game, 4-4, in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The tie wouldn't be broken till the tenth when Summer Burgess singled to left center field, scoring Claire Smith from second base. In the bottom of the tenth, Charlotte tied the game on a solo home run form Katie Manring.
Finally, in the top of the eleventh inning Cushing would blast a double off the right center wall to score Cameran McKenry to regain a 6-5 lead. Freshmen Corrina Dodd came on to pitch in the bottom of the inning and put the nail in the 49er coffin, striking out two, on her way to her second save of the season.
"The best thing I thought we did today was whenever they scored we answered them back," said Breeden. "We didn't fold our little tent up especially down the stretch. We would score, maybe they would score back, and then we would come back and score again. I think we had some nasty at-bats, we had a little grit about us and we showed some toughness."
In game two the 49ers jumped out to a lead that the Raiders couldn't overcome, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
For the Raiders, Kirstyn Cuccia remained hot picking up her thirteenth RBI in the past eight games, cutting the Charlotte lead to 4-1.
Cushing recorded her second home run of the day and tenth home run this season in the top of the fourth.
However the Raider come back was silenced by Charlotte in the bottom of the fifth by three straight 49ers' doubles, expanding the lead to 9-2.
The Raiders will play the rubber match of the Charlotte series tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. and then will head to UT Martin to play the Skyhawks in a one game series on Wednesday.
Follow all the action on Blue Raider social media: Twitter- MT_softball | Instagram- MT_softball | Facebook- Middle Tennessee Softball
| Game 1: Middle Tennessee 6, Charlotte 5 |
The Raiders we're led by the relief effort from pitcher Kaily Ahlstrom. The Freshmen pitched 6.2 innings, struck out a career high seven batters, and recorded her sixth win of the season.
"I came in and I knew I had to shut down their batters," said Ahlstrom "I think I had a lot of pitches working, and had some fire on some of them, that really helped."
Ahlstrom is coming off a seven inning victory against Tennessee State where she struck out six, allowed two runs, on six hits. Against the Tigers on Wednesday, Ahlstrom threw a whopping 132 pitches. On three days rest Ahlstrom would enter the game and hold the 49er offense at bay, till the Raiders could out last Charlotte in the eleventh inning.
"I thought Ahlstrom came in and pitched well, and she pitched longer than what we anticipated," said Head Coach Jeff Breeden.
The Raiders had clutch performances from Jocelynn De La Cruz and Lexi Cushing who had back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to put the Raiders ahead 4-3. Charlotte would tie the game, 4-4, in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The tie wouldn't be broken till the tenth when Summer Burgess singled to left center field, scoring Claire Smith from second base. In the bottom of the tenth, Charlotte tied the game on a solo home run form Katie Manring.
Finally, in the top of the eleventh inning Cushing would blast a double off the right center wall to score Cameran McKenry to regain a 6-5 lead. Freshmen Corrina Dodd came on to pitch in the bottom of the inning and put the nail in the 49er coffin, striking out two, on her way to her second save of the season.
"The best thing I thought we did today was whenever they scored we answered them back," said Breeden. "We didn't fold our little tent up especially down the stretch. We would score, maybe they would score back, and then we would come back and score again. I think we had some nasty at-bats, we had a little grit about us and we showed some toughness."
| Game 2: Middle Tennessee 2, Charlotte 9 |
In game two the 49ers jumped out to a lead that the Raiders couldn't overcome, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
For the Raiders, Kirstyn Cuccia remained hot picking up her thirteenth RBI in the past eight games, cutting the Charlotte lead to 4-1.
Cushing recorded her second home run of the day and tenth home run this season in the top of the fourth.
However the Raider come back was silenced by Charlotte in the bottom of the fifth by three straight 49ers' doubles, expanding the lead to 9-2.
| News and Notes |
- Lexi Cushing hit the 28 and 29 home runs of her career.
- Raiders stretch their winning streak to five, before losing in game two of the double header.
- Kailey Ahlstrom struck out a career high seven batters in the extra inning win over Charlotte.
| Next Up |
The Raiders will play the rubber match of the Charlotte series tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. and then will head to UT Martin to play the Skyhawks in a one game series on Wednesday.
| Social Media |
Follow all the action on Blue Raider social media: Twitter- MT_softball | Instagram- MT_softball | Facebook- Middle Tennessee Softball
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ahlstrom, Kailey (6-6)
L: GREEN, Alison (0-6)
S: Dodd, Corrina (2)
Batting:
2B: De La Cruz, Jocelynn 1 ; Cushing, Lexi 1 ; Cuccia, Kirstyn 1
HR: De La Cruz, Jocelynn 1 ; Cushing, Lexi 1
RBI: Burgess, Summer 1 ; De La Cruz, Jocelynn 2 ; Cushing, Lexi 2 ; Cuccia, Kirstyn 1
SH: Smith, Claire 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McGee, Keely 1 ; De La Cruz, Jocelynn 1 ; McKenry, Cameran 1 ; Cushing, Lexi 1 ; McClure, Brooke 1 ; Smith, Claire 1
SB: Burgess, Summer 1 ; Heath, Sydney 2 ; Freeman, Savannah 1
HBP: Rodriguez, Lani 1
Batting:
2B: ROCHELLE, Imani 1
3B: BERRIER, Kiersten 1
HR: MANRING, Katie 1
RBI: BERRIER, Kiersten 2 ; VANNOY, Bailey 1 ; MANRING, Katie 1 ; ROCHELLE, Imani 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BERRIER, Kiersten 1 ; MANRING, Katie 1 ; DEVEREAUX, Anna 1 ; BIRCH, Lizzy 1 ; MCGOUGH, Jude 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
AB
6
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
6
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
6
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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